The CFTC charged Johannes Steynberg, the alleged mastermind behind a major Bitcoin scheme, with fraud and registration violations in a U.S. court.
The Mirror Trading International operation is the largest fraudulent scheme involving Bitcoin charged in any CFTC case, the commission said Thursday.Mirror Trading International and boss Johannes Steynberg with alleged fraud and registration violations on Thursday. Mirror Trading International allegedly engaged in an “international fraudulent multilevel marketing scheme,” for nearly three years, according to the complaint. Steynberg allegedly solicited Bitcoin from members of the public for participation in a commodity pool operated by Mirror Trading International — without being registered as an operator — from May 2018 to March 2021.
Steynberg allegedly accepted at least 29,421 BTC, with a value of more than $1.7 billion, from 23,000 participants in the United States who were not eligible contract participants. He also took contributions from others around the world, according to the CFTC.